Ex-Philly housing chief's suit against city on tap

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former Philadelphia housing director who left town amid tax liens, sexual harassment complaints and a threatened home foreclosure returns Tuesday to pursue his lawsuit over his firing.

Longtime director Carl Greene wants more than $700,000 plus damages for the two years remaining on his contract. Openings are set for Tuesday afternoon in the nonjury federal trial.

Greene was let go in 2010 amid news the Philadelphia Housing Authority had quietly agreed to pay $900,000 to settle the sexual harassment complaints. Since then, employees have charged in their own lawsuits that they had to pay into a slush fund to keep their jobs.

Then-board chairman John Street says Greene reinvigorated the city’s public housing, but ran the agency with “an iron fist.”